Cheverly Green Infrastructure Plan
THE NATURAL AREAS NETWORK
Cheverly is part of the Maryland Upper Coastal Plain, characterized by gently rolling hills and valleys, and primarily by oak-pine forests with diverse microhabitats, including pine barren type terrain and open woodland glades that support prairie type vegetation, such as Indian or Little Bluestem grass species. Overall this description applies well to the natural areas of Cheverly. However, each of the five hub areas also has some unique vegetation.
Cheverly is within the Anacostia River watershed, which is one of the most polluted in the Chesapeake Bay region. Lower Beaverdam Creek and Quincy Run, which run through parts of Cheverly, flow into the Anacostia river. Four small tributaries, draining the largest part of Cheverly, flow into Lower Beaverdam Creek, either directly or through pipes. Cabin Branch also runs through the southern part of Cheverly and then into Lower Beaverdam Creek. Three non-tidal wetlands are also part of the area water resources: the federally protected floodplains of Cabin Branch and Lower Beaverdam Creek; a marsh formed by the former beaver pond at Woodworth Park, continuing along the Pepco right-of-way, is also marked as federally protected. The least known unprotected Millbrook wetland, just west of Tributary 1 adjoining the Springmill Addition. These wetlands are of considerable value to the Cheverly area in that they are virtually the only major filters and purifiers of the highly polluted waterways that flow through our area. They are also the only habitats for aquatic and hydrophytic plants that provide nutrients to support aquatic life.
Within Cheverly there are five natural areas that can form the hubs of an infrastructure network. Connecting the hubs by corridors to form a single network will facilitate migration and genetic interchange among the areas and thereby enrich biodiversity. When functioning together as an integrated system, these hubs will constitute a natural treasure that will provide significant environmental benefits by supporting the basic plant and animal resources required to maintain life.
Conservation biology has determined that linkage is essential for fragmented natural systems to function properly and preserve biodiversity. In green infrastructure networks it is this connectivity that provides resiliency in the face of natural and human disturbance and counteracts the adverse effects of fragmentation, particularly genetic transfer, loss of ecosystem functions, and increase in exotic and edge species.
Furthermore, the surrounding landscape matrix of adjacent properties can provide an added dimension of support as buffers for the protected areas as long as they remain ecofriendly.
Ecosystem: It’s all connected
An ecosystem consists of all living and nonliving components of a particular area that interact and exchange material with one another. It is a set of interacting and inter- dependent components forming an integrated whole. Because all of its parts contribute to the system, the loss of any one of them can have serious detrimental effects on the function of the system as a whole.